


Sleepy Love

by yuqiyu



Category: IT, IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:33:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26116504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuqiyu/pseuds/yuqiyu
Summary: Eddie and Richie are college roommates, and Eddie has a problem where he’s always exhausted and sleeping. Richie is always there to tuck him in.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Kudos: 49





	Sleepy Love

**Author's Note:**

> I’d like to thank my friend Hannah for helping me come up with ideas throughout this fic, especially the dream scene <3
> 
> TW: a short bit of an anxiety attack

“Hey, Eddie?” Richie called from the living room, a bag slung over his shoulder. His eyes were searching for his roommate across the corridor as he picked up a large water bottle and took a quick gulp.

“Yeah?” an unmistakably drowsy voice echoed back in response. Eddie had been woken up from his first in many naps of the day, and while he wasn’t too upset about that, he did want to go back to sleep as quickly as possible.

“I’m going out for a bit, alright? Don’t let the boogeyman spook ya!” Richie had quickly changed his voice to sound ominous, but it came out sounding more like Donkey from Shrek. Feeling a bit embarrassed, he waited for Eddie to reply. After seconds of silence, Richie decided that the poor guy had fallen back to sleep and left the apartment quietly. Back in Eddie’s room, he was already deep in slumber, slowly falling into his dream once again...

_He and Richie were holding hands, walking along the sidewalk of a park. He hadn’t felt this happy in a long time; not since he was able to move out of his childhood home for the very first time at least. The park was alive and colorful. The birds’ chirping now sounds more than just that; it was a serenade for the couple. They reached a bench overlooking the town and sat down. As Eddie leaned back against it, Richie laid his head down on his lap. Pure love and care adorned both faces. Eddie tangled his fingers into Richie’s loose curls and played with each loop, giving love to each one. He lightly touched Richie’s cheek with his thumb and pulled it down to his lips. His eyes lingered on as his finger felt how warm and soft it was. He wanted to know what it was like. With Richie’s encouraging smile, Eddie dipped down closer to his face and--_

About five hours later, Richie was back home. It had gotten much darker since he had left, so the lights were already on. He walked inside and saw Eddie lying on the couch, watching some boring TV show he has probably never even heard of. At the sound of the door closing, Eddie instantly popped up and looked at him.

“Oh, welcome back. Where’d you go?” he rubbed his eyes and stifled a yawn.

“Aw, did you miss me, my love?” Richie dropped his bag and ran over to Eddie, trying to pinch his cheeks. Eddie, on instinct, already knew what was happening and put his arms up against Richie’s in defense.

“Don’t you _dare_ touch my fucking face, fuckwad!” Eddie screamed and started slapping the hands away. They grappled with each other until Richie, whose build was bigger than his, was able to push his chest back onto the couch seat and laughed. Eddie continued flailing his arms in front of him and somehow, was able to thrash Richie’s glasses off. He froze and stared into glasses-less eyes. Before he could open his mouth, Richie’s right hand was already reaching out towards his face.

“You make it too easy for me, Eds,” Richie grinned and softly pinched his cheek. Feeling satisfied, he stood upright and put his hands on his hips. “Alright, alright, I’ll stop for the rest of the night! Did you eat dinner yet? If you did, you gotta eat again because I bought burgers.” He walked back to the door and bent down, unzipped the backpack, then pulled out a wrinkly, brown paper bag. Eddie pushed himself up and stared at it.

“From where? That looks really suspicious,” he said hesitantly, not wanting to seem ungrateful. “But I didn’t eat yet.” He had added the last part to reassure Richie, but wasn’t sure if he wanted to eat whatever was in the bag. His mother, after all, did warn him often of unknown food and its danger of poisoning. Richie looked at him curiously for a moment, then put the bag on the counter. It suddenly had a McDonald’s logo, to Eddie’s surprise.

“I just dropped by on the way home ‘cause I wanted some nuggets. Ready to eat?”

About an hour later, the two roommates were stuffed into a food coma and decided to end the night by watching a movie. Richie sipped on his soda while Eddie skimmed through the options on Netflix.

“What do you wanna watch?” Eddie asked, tapping his forefinger on the backside of the remote. He was really hoping Richie knew what to watch because he was getting tired of scrolling through all the categories.

“Doesn’t matter. You’ll fall asleep anyway.” Richie snorted. “Just close your eyes and play a random one.” Eddie rolled his eyes and huffed. He then closed his eyes and pressed on the arrow buttons a few times before opening them back up. It had landed on a movie they hadn’t seen yet, but went along with it anyway. Before the movie could begin, a voice startled Eddie. “Why are you so far away?” He looked at Richie again.

“What?”

“I said...come closer.” Richie patted the cushion in between them, a warm smile spread across his face.

“Richie, I’m literally only a foot away from you.”

“Come on, Eds, I don’t bite.”

“Why don’t you come closer then?” Taking it as an invitation, Richie happily scooted over until their shoulders were touching. He leaned in closer and put his arm over Eddie’s shoulders. He had done this often before, so it wasn’t much of a surprise to him. About fifteen minutes in, Eddie’s eyelids began to droop and his head hung comfortably over Richie’s as soft snores filled the room.

By the time the credits were rolling, Richie had enjoyed about thirty minutes of playing with his roommate’s dark brown hair. His hand continued running along the layers until the movie was completely over. He reached over Eddie carefully to grab the remote and turn off the TV. Unbeknownst to him, the movement had pulled the sleeping man awake. Too tired to do anything, Eddie just stayed motionless instead; his eyes were still closed. He felt Richie slowly get up and move his head onto the seat of the couch. A second later, Richie pulled a blanket over his shoulders. He stroked Eddie’s cheek with his thumb for a moment, not knowing he was awake. With his hand still lovingly wrapped around the sleeping face, he placed a tender kiss on his forehead with a smile. Richie shuffled over to the corridor wall and switched the lights off. Eddie soon fell back asleep.

The morning after, Eddie woke up, still on the couch. He groaned and scratched his head, the action suddenly reminding him of last night’s events. He stopped, remembering Richie having kissed him on the forehead, but not so sure if it had been a dream or not. Pushing himself up, he looked for Richie to no avail. He wanted to ask, but felt too embarrassed. Now that his roommate wasn’t here, he didn’t have to think about it. However, he still wanted to make sure.

The next few days, whenever Richie was around, Eddie would pretend to have fallen asleep. His forehead would be blessed every single time. He wasn’t sure why Richie had started doing this, but he liked it so much that it became a habit for him to keep pretending. Deep down, he knew he wanted it more often, too, and not just when he was about to nap or go to bed. Eddie was already having a hard time keeping his massive crush on Richie under wraps.

As he pondered about it thoughtfully, he suddenly heard the door open and looked up eagerly. Richie walked in with a plastic bag in his right hand, his left pushing the door closed and locked it.

“Mornin’, Eds!” he dropped his ring of keys on the counter and walked into the kitchen.

“Morning,” Eddie replied, the thoughts still plaguing his mind. Richie didn’t seem to notice, however, and started to stock up the groceries. “You went shopping already? I thought it was my turn this week.”

“Well, yeah, but you were sleeping so heavily and I thought I could just get it over with.”

“Oh.” Eddie leaned back against the couch. There were so many things he wanted to say, but the thing he was most afraid of was that his roommate might actually find out about his crush. It felt too embarrassing, and how would he react if he didn’t feel the same way? Eddie wasn’t sure if he wanted to lose a roommate just because he wanted more kisses. “Hey, Richie?”

“Yes, my love?” Richie responded in a dramatic, lovey-dovey voice and Eddie’s heart bounced. There he goes again, he thought. He stayed silent, not sure where he had meant to go with this conversation. Richie put a tray of raw steak down on one of the kitchen counters and turned around. He looked at Eddie, feeling concerned in the stillness of the room. “What is it?”

Eddie suddenly felt sick and couldn’t speak at all. He glanced at Richie for a split second before averting his eyes. A lump started to form in his throat, and it became more and more difficult to breathe. Richie ran over and grabbed Eddie’s shoulder, his face now contorting in a mixture of fear and worry.

“Eddie, what’s wrong? Do you have your inhaler?” his eyes searched for answers in Eddie’s face, where words couldn’t fill. Eddie quickly stuck his hand into his pocket and started breathing into the inhaler, slowly regaining his breath.

“Right,” he gasped. “I-I’m fine now.” he clutched onto the inhaler tightly, his other hand pressed against his heaving chest. Eventually, he had completely calmed down, partly due to Richie rubbing his back and making sure he could be there in case Eddie needed anything else.

“Are you feeling better?” Richie asked, still feeling anxious.

“Uh, yeah, thanks.” he sighed in response, happy that the lump in his throat was finally gone. “Sorry.”

“Did something happen?” Richie urged. “What’s going on, Eddie?” Eddie wished that he would drop the subject, but now it felt like he was trapped in a corner. He pursed his lips and tried to look straight into Richie’s eyes. He took a deep breath and built up a bit more courage.

“You...you know how I sleep a lot?” he spoke slowly, as if trying to stall the inevitable.

“Yeah, what’s that got to do with this?”

“Um, sometimes…” he trailed off, his gaze starting to waver and trying to look at anything but Richie’s face. “Sometimes, you tuck me in.” He paused, looking for any changes in Richie’s expression; perhaps a sneer, or something that would prove to Eddie that confessing would be a mistake. But in his eyes, there was only concern and encouragement. So Eddie continued. “And sometimes, you, uh, you do more than that.” Suddenly, something clicked in Richie’s mind. He stared at Eddie for a moment, then nodded.

“You were awake whenever I did that?” A light blush appeared across Richie’s cheeks as the realization sank in.

“Yeah.” he finally caved and looked away. He felt humiliated and was so sure that Richie wouldn’t be affectionate to him anymore. That was one of his biggest nightmares.

“Why didn’t you tell me to stop or something, Eds?” Richie spoke softly. His voice had become unstable and started cracking a little bit. Even though it had already left his mouth, he wished he hadn’t said it. His secret had been exposed, but he didn’t want to stop it so soon.

“I didn’t want you to,” Eddie confessed, not realizing Richie felt a sense of relief wash over him. “I kind of wanted you to do it more often.” He ran his hands over his face, trying to rub the shame off of him. He groaned.

“Is that--is that why you stopped sleeping in your bed?” Richie responded, feeling too eager to realize that Eddie was rolling in embarrassment. Eddie couldn’t answer. He looked at his fiddling hands in his lap. Richie reached out to his face and cupped his cheek. Eddie looked up at him in surprise, his mouth agape. “You should’ve told me sooner. I didn’t think you’d catch on so quickly.” He put his hand down and laughed nervously. A minute of silence later, Eddie was still holding onto those words. Yet he still wasn’t sure about Richie’s feelings.

“Why are you so affectionate with me?” he asked flatly. He knew that while he didn’t want the physical attention to stop, he didn’t want to let it happen if there was nothing more. Richie was taken aback, he thought it had been clear.

“Isn’t it obvious, my love?” Richie grinned. Both of his hands wrapped around Eddie’s face and he leaned in close enough to feel the hitch in Eddie’s breath. “It’s because I’m in love with you.” He gently pressed his lips against him. Eddie gasped, but quickly leaned into the kiss, finally receiving the confirmation he was waiting for. When they let go, both of their eyes were glossed over with tenderness.

“I love you, too.”


End file.
